
Jay Compton
Sports Editor
HARROGATE, Tenn. — Cumberland Gap’s girls’ tennis team downed Greeneville 4-0 to win the District 2A-AA championship on Thursday at Lincoln Memorial University.
The Lady Panthers swept the first four singles matches to secure the victory.
Sydney Davis got past Madison Hite 8-6, Kierstyn Carmical defeated Caroline Quarrels 8-4, Kellie Taylor pulled out an 8-7 (7-5) win over Lauren Yakubic in a tie-breaker and Whitney Elliott beat Rachel Shell 8-5.
Cumberland Gap advanced to the finals with a 4-1 victory over Chuckey-Doak in the semifinals earlier on Thursday. Again, things were decided by the singles matches.
Davis downed Jordan Murphy 8-2, Chuckey-Doak’s Makeala Bowman pulled out an 8-5 win over Carmical, Taylor beat Emily Russ 8-3, Elliott defeated Megan Sabo 8-1 and Hannah Hatmaker rolled to an 8-2 win over Amanda Knight.
Cumberland Gap remains undefeated on the season and advances to play at Unicoi County for the team regional next week.
Davis was named the girls player of the year in District 2A-AA and Cumberland Gap’s Jason Lambdin was named the district’s girls coach of the year.
On the boy’s side, the Panthers defeated Claiborne 4-2 to earn a spot in the finals but settled for a second place finish after losing to Greeneville.
In the semifinals Cumberland Gap won three of the five singles matches, most of which were very competitive.
Panther Darcy Tabotabo got past Will Hoskins 8-6 and Blake Arnold defeated Ben Hoskins 8-6 at the top two seeds. Claiborne’s Jordan Ledford defeated Zach Gilbert 8-6 and Bulldog John Bull topped Devan Love 8-3 at number five. The match of the day went to Cumberland Gap’s Jordan King as he outlasted Dylan Hoskins 8-7 (14-12) in a tie-breaker.
Tabotabo and Gilbert teamed up for an 8-1 win over Ben Hoskins and Bull at number one singles to clinch the match for the Panthers.
Greeneville dominated the finals, sweeping all five singles matches.
Jaspal Mahal defeated Tabotabo 8-1, Malcolm Blair beat Arnold 8-2, Will Leonard defeated Gilbert 8-2, Wesley Pectol topped King 8-1 and Logan Dickenson beat Devan Love 8-2.
With the team district tournament decided, the players will return to the courts today for the start of the individual singles and doubles District 2A-AA tournaments. The girls will be back at LMU while the boys tournament is being held at Claiborne High School. The finals will be held on Monday with the girls at Cumberland Gap and the boys at Claiborne.


















